Heyy, you get a little blast from the past in this chapter 😌
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LaRusso Auto Group
Rosalía goes back to the dealership after meeting Robby. She's glad she got to talk to him but now the stressful situation with Tom Cole's offer re-enters her mind. She heads into the building, spotting Amanda and Louie at a table as the man pours scotch whiskey into a glass. "Hey. Is Daniel back yet?" Rosalía speaks up as she approaches. Right when she asks that, the man in question walks in behind her, making her whip around. "Where is everyone?" her husband asks as he walks over.
"Figured we'd close up early. You know, batten down the hatches until we straighten this whole thing out," the blue-eyed cousin answers. Daniel sighs at this before greeting his wife with a peck on the lips. "Hey, honey. How's Robby doing?" he asks her. "He's... he's holding up," the woman responds, not wanting to alarm him by mentioning his black eye or resentment toward him. "Good," the man sighs. "How was your lunch with Anoush?" Rosalía questions as she goes to take a seat beside Amanda.
She grabs an empty glass and takes the bottle, pouring the alcohol into her glass before sliding the bottle across the table in her husband's direction. "Well..." he commences, approaching and pouring whiskey into a glass. "Good news is he's speaking to me again. Bad news is... he was telling Louie the truth," he dimly reveals before lowering down into the chair behind him. The other three exchange disappointed looks. Daniel sighs and continues, "Cole leaned into the bad press on the school fight. He's gonna be exclusive with Doyona by the first of the month."
Rosalía gawks at him before turning to Amanda and Louie, who shake their heads. "If we lose this dealership, other manufacturers are gonna start pulling out," she pipes up. "That's what Cole's banking on," Daniel conveys, setting his drink down and sighing as he leans forward in his seat. "See, I say we go visit Cole, and show him a little Jersey justice," his cousin jumps in. The women turn to him with annoyed faces. "What are you gonna do? Gonna go round up your biker friends? Get your asses kicked again?" Amanda spits.
"Uh-oh, Luis the cholo is back," Rosalía adds, making the other woman snort. They snicker and clink their glasses together while Louie becomes flustered. "I thought we weren't gonna talk about tha-" he embarrassedly speaks before Rosalía interjects. "Daniel," she voices, ignoring Louie and getting back on track. "Believe me, I do not want to sell to Cole. I want to keep this place, I want to fight for it... but how do we do that? It's very risky," she claims. Her husband glances at her with a downcast expression.
"Guys, I don't think you have a choice. If you wanna come out of this with anything, you're gonna have to sell to Cole," Amanda opines. Silence looms over the four adults. The couple truly does not want to sell. Rosalía knows how much her husband loves cars, she doesn't want his dreams to shatter around him. Daniel lowers his gaze, shaking his head and sighing before standing up. He takes a few steps away from the table, taking in his surroundings. "You know, when I was a kid, I wanted my own car so bad," he commences.
"My mom had this station wagon. It was such a piece of junk. We... we literally had to push it to get the engine started," he describes. A reminiscent smile forms on Rosalía's face as memories of that car run through her mind. She remembers perfectly how she had to pop the stick while Daniel and Lucille pushed the car on the night of their first date.
"And then Mr. Miyagi gave me that '47 Ford and... that was the best day of my life. Well, one of them," the man claims, remembering his wedding day. "Ever since, I've been in love with cars. That's why Mr. Miyagi pushed me into sales. Wasn't my idea," he states, turning around to face the others. "I thought car salesmen were sleazy."
"That is such a bullshit stereotype," Louie cuts in, sounding offended. Rosalía and Amanda just glance at him with knitted eyebrows. "Plus, Rosalía and I already had the studio and it was doing great but Mr. Miyagi encouraged me to follow my dream too. He told me, 'Daniel-san... must follow passion," Daniel phrases before his wife joins in. "Man who work for passion always richer than man who work for money," they quote together. They smile softly at each other before the woman turns to Louie and Amanda.
"He said the same thing to me. Except he used 'woman," she explains, lightly chuckling. She misses Mr. Miyagi so much. He's the one who pushed her to go after what she wanted when her mother didn't support her dreams. "He was right. The goal was never to be the number one auto dealer in the Valley. I just wanted to give those customers that same sense of excitement I had when I got my first car. That's what I did and that's why we were successful," her husband concludes, walking back to the table and grasping the chair in front of him.
"But Daniel... without Doyona, you can't compete," Amanda pipes up, looking at him sympathetically. Rosalía turns to her and remarks, "you are so negative... but correct." She stands up and slowly steps toward the tan man, who wears a solemn facial expression. "Amor... you know I love what we've built here. I love that we did this and the studio together. Our dream of being business partners came true," she voices. Daniel lightly chuckles, remembering their conversation about the future in Okinawa...
"I can see that. Rosalía the boss lady."
"I can see you going into business too. I feel like you probably have a hidden talent for it."
"Well, maybe we can be business partners."
"I don't want to lose this. The dealership is your baby, your dream. I don't want you to lose it. We might end up with nothing if we don't sell to Cole... but if you want to find another way then I'm with you," his wife expresses, gently setting a hand on his shoulder. Daniel wraps his fingers around her wrist and sends her a small appreciative grin. It definitely consoles him to know that she's willing to fight for this too. Amanda gazes at them sympathetically before turning to her ex-husband. "Louie, why don't we, um, go finish those inventories," she addresses him.
She nods her head to the side and the man complies, standing up and following her. Rosalía shoots the other woman a grateful smile before they walk off, leaving the couple alone. Daniel releases a heavy sigh and wraps his arms around his wife's waist, needing a hug from her right now. Rosalía soothingly rubs his back as she holds him. How she wishes she had the solution to this problem. Her eyes land on something in the distance and she slowly lifts her head from the man's shoulder. Daniel glances at her face, wondering why she pulled back.
"What?" he asks, turning around to see what she's staring at. He spots a bonsai tree, his eyes becoming fixated on it as well. His feet carry him over to the tree before he could think and the woman follows, stopping beside him as they admire the tree. The same memory plays in their minds...
"Come, you try," Mr. Miyagi insists upon noticing the boy's interest. He gently grabs his arm and leads him to the seat beside Rosalía. "No, I don't know how to do this stuff," Daniel protests. "No, no, no, sit down," Mr. Miyagi insists. "No, no, I may mess it up. I don't want to mess it up," Daniel argues again. The girl chuckles and cuts in, "just do it, Daniel! It's not as hard as you think." Mr. Miyagi nods and shoots her a grateful smile before focusing on Daniel. "Close eye," he instructs him. The boy looks up at him and he reassures him, "trust."
He looks at Rosalía and she nods, making him finally close his eyes. He feels a bit awkward but goes along with it anyway. "Concentrate," Mr. Miyagi tells him as he fully closes his eyes. "Think only tree. Make a perfect picture down to last pine needle... Wipe your mind clean, everything but tree." Daniel does as he says and creates a perfect image of a tree in his head.
The man lightly places his hand against Daniel's face and gently pushes him so he's facing the table as he speaks, "nothing exists in whole world, only tree." Rosalía watches the two, amused that he's repeating everything he told her to Daniel but curious to see the boy's reaction at the same time. "You got it?" he asks, to which the boy nods.
"Open eye."
Daniel and Rosalía open their eyes, the tiniest of smiles gracing their lips. They turn their heads to glance at each other, both feeling a sense of certainty and comfort. Even after he's gone, Mr. Miyagi is still helping them. "I have an idea. I take it you do too?" the woman speaks up. Her husband's grin broadens. "Yeah... Why do I get the feeling it's the same idea?" he responds, lightly chuckling. Rosalía shrugs. "We think alike sometimes. That's why this works," she states, pointing between herself and him. "Ugh, I love it when we're in sync," she comments.
*Time skip*
Rosalía and Daniel sit together in the dark dealership, waiting for Tom Cole to arrive. Finally, the man of the hour arrives, calling, "Daniel. Rosie." He walks into the conference room with Anoush in tow. The woman clenches her jaw. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?" she quips. "Oh, don't be like that. It's just a cute nickname," Tom fires back, grinning in false innocence. The woman rolls her eyes. Not when it comes from your mouth. "Aw, I know this must be a tough pill to swallow," the small man taunts as he takes a seat.
He releases a sigh as he plops down into the chair, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "No matter how you wash it down, failure... never tastes good," he continues. An indifferent expression rests on Rosalía's face and she inhales a breath, hanging her head. She looks like she's trying to hide her disappointment. Daniel glances at her before looking down, his face remaining straight. He wants to smirk at his wife's acting skills though. "But at the end of the day, it's just business, right?" Tom voices.
Daniel nods. "We looked at the offer in front of us and realized there's only one choice," he states before sliding the book across the table to Tom. The pale man places his hand on the book while Daniel lets go of it before folding his hands together on the table. "I want you to know that I'm gonna treat this place with the utmost respect," the short man claims before eagerly opening the book. "You can take the tiny bushes though. Nobody wants to care for a tree," he mockingly voices, flipping the page. Rosalía fights the urge to say something snappy.
"Oh, Faroush, you are looking at the new owner of LaRusso Van Nuys," Tom proudly declares, looking at Anoush, who lifts an eyebrow at him. "Woah, don't start celebrating yet, Tommy. Gotta see the adjustments we made first. If you would kindly turn to page nine," the woman speaks up, saying the last sentence in a posh accent. Tom pulls up the corners of the pages as he searches for page nine before flipping to it. He's shocked to unveil a drawing of a hand giving the middle finger with the words: "suck on this, bitch" written under it.
An irritated grin forms on his face while Anoush stifles a laugh. "I don't understand. Are you selling me the dealership or not?" Tom curtly asks. "When hell freezes over," Daniel answers. Rosalía sends Tom a satisfied smile, absolutely enjoying this. "Well, then, let me give you the bad news. I signed an exclusive deal with-" the pale man starts to explain. "Doyona. Yeah. We know all about that," Daniel finishes for him, winking at Anoush. Rosalía gasps dramatically, smiling mockingly at Tom. "Cue the dramatic music," she remarks.
The pale man turns to look at Anoush with an annoyed expression. Anoush smirks at him and sarcastically claims, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, Daniel offered me my job back. And since he knows my name and isn't a complete douche clown, I accepted." Tom turns back around and slams the book closed. "Fine. You wanna play the violin on the Titanic, it's your funeral," he pettily utters, pointing between the couple as he stands up and starts walking away. "We're not dead yet, Tommy," Daniel responds as he and his wife stand up as well. "Yeah, right!" Tom calls as he walks.
"We've still got some moves!"
"Wait, where are you going?? Stay for comedic purposes!" Rosalía suddenly yells after the small man. Tom pretends to not hear her as he storms off. "Ah, it's always fun when that guy stops by," the woman jokingly claims with a playful smile. Daniel and Anoush chuckle at this. "Well, there's no turning back now. This plan better work," she comments as she crosses her arms over her chest. "It has to," her husband states.
This alarms Anoush. "Wait, w-w-what? This isn't a sure thing?" he questions, turning to the pair. The two turn to look at him before awkwardly looking away. This causes panic to manifest inside their employee. Rosalía turns back to him with a sweet smile and sets a hand on his arm. "Would you like some tequila?" she kindly offers, dodging his question.
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Oh, the Time After Time nostalgia 🥺 Woohoo, we got a glimpse of young Rosalía & Daniel again! I miss young them lol.
Me adding details in Time After Time with the intention of foreshadowing this book: